Systems for data processing in a network environment commonly exchange and disseminate information among a multitude of hosts. An internetwork environment includes hosts and routers having different communications capabilities. These variations include the ability to send and receive unreliable multicast data and the ability to receive unreliable unicast data. Consequently, a host cannot employ a single means to disseminate data to a large number of hosts. Clearly, determining the most appropriate means for transmitting data to each destination represents a considerable burden for the application programmer.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and system for automatically gathering communications capability information for all hosts and for automatically selecting the most appropriate means for sending data to each destination.